


Souls and Shadows

by ButterflyDragon



Category: League of Legends, RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26114347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ButterflyDragon/pseuds/ButterflyDragon
Summary: When it came to team AKDA, Glynda truly had to question what Ozpin was thinking- placing Kai'sa, with all her secrets, on a team with the rogue assasin? Placing the two students they suspected of having serious criminal histories on the same team? Making one of them the leader, when the other two were far more trustworthy? And really, what was with the acronym? How in the world did he read that as 'Academia'?Still, for better or worse they were here, and they would certainly keep her on her toes- like she didn't have enough of that to deal with from Miss Rose.
Relationships: Ahri/Evelynn (League of Legends)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 58





	1. Welcome To Beacon

**Author's Note:**

> So, fun story, writing the description made me reconsider large part of this fic!

The airship to Beacon Academy was packed with students this year. Their varied outfits and weapons that would make them stick out in any other crowd were barely of note here- a boy in full, gleaming plate armour was attempting to flirt with a girl in a black leather form-fitting outfit, right next to a snake Faunus dressed more for an evening out than a fight enraptured by the view. So, looks directed at the girl in a bright red dress with a fluffy white tail were, at most, admiring her beauty.

Personally, Akali figured that amount of skin was a bad idea to fight Grimm, but who was she to talk? She had a crop top on. Still, she found herself staring at the girl- something about her was just… vaguely off-putting. She swore she’d seen that face before, maybe the Faunus had been in some magazine? She had the face for it.

She was staring at someone herself- glaring more like it- but for the life of her Akali couldn’t see who had grabbed the girl’s ire. Which was another reason she was choosing to focus on that one girl in this crowd- Akali was trained in silent observation, but some random chick could see someone she couldn’t? Worth paying attention to.

Although, she was far from the only person of note on the ship. There was the short, silver-eyed girl being suffocated by her sister. Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao-Long. Ozpin had asked her to keep an eye out for them, which she fully intended to ignore, but the reasons were interesting. It had been a long time since the Kinkou had held a Silver Eyed Warrior.

Then, on the opposite end, there was Jaune Arc. She’d met his sister on a few missions, and she had to say he was exactly as he’d been described- well meaning, but kinda pathetic. She was tempted to start a bet on how he’d gotten into Beacon- her money was on some member of the Arc family web having connections to get him in with no experience.

“Um, excuse me?” And now the girl had approached her. Great. “Why are you staring at me?”

“Depends, do I get to know who you’re glaring at?”

“I feel like that’s an answer itself though,” the girl smiled, “I don’t know anyway- think it’s just someone with an invisibility semblance, but they’re driving me nuts!”

“But… you can’t see them?” Akali asked, deadpan.

The girl stiffened, “Uh… yeah. My semblance- well, it does a lot of things, but I can sense where everyone is, is the general gist. Miss Invisible over there’s freaking it out a little.”

That… made sense. Shame, the year was going to be boring if there were _no_ secret conspiracies. She offered a hand. “Akali.”

“Nice to meet you Akali,” she took the offered hand hesitantly, like she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it, “I’m Ahri.”

There was an awkward silence, broken only by a distant squabble between the sisters.

Ahri chuckled nervously. “we’re both bad at this, aren’t we?”

“Getting called out for intent staring isn’t much of a conversations starter, is it?”

“No- uh, what’s that cool knife thing you have?”

“It’s just a normal- well, big- Kama. I have a bag full of Kunai and Shuriken to deal with range.” Akali pulled it out from its sheath on her back to show it off a little, “what about you?”

“Oh! I uh… don’t have a weapon. Just my Semblance.”

“You fight by sensing people? And don’t have any backup plans?”

“Ah, I mentioned it does a lot right? I can fight with it.” She shuffled slightly, playing with her tail before loudly exclaiming, “Anyway! What’s your semblance?”

Akali smirked. “Don’t have one, don’t need one.”

“Oh?”

“I’m just that good.”

“Well, I suppose I can say the same about weaponry.”

“That’s- …a fair point.” Akali admitted, “Hey, how about this- when I find my semblance, you’ll learn how to use a weapon.”

Ahri giggled and opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the projector in the middle of the room. Professor Goodwitch gave a short, slightly generic speech before the crowds on the airship rushed to the window, realising they could finally see Beacon from here. The airship began its descent and Ahri stiffened, darting back to her position by the wall and grabbing the railing.

Akali followed at a more sedate pace, “first time flyer?”

“And last time if I can help it.”

“Hey, at least you’re dealing better than blondie over there.”

“Not a high bar.”

-^-^-

Kai’sa’s first day was going… first day-y. It was hard not to feel detached from the crowd Ozpin had insisted she join heading into the school she’d spent the last week in. Their excitement at seeing Beacon for the first time, the casual chatter, some nerves among the less frequent flyers- none of it was something she could relate to.

Still, that hardly compared to just how lonely she felt in this massive crowd. Friends greeting each other left and right, happy cries and conversations. Some kid nearly nuked the courtyard with a crate of dust and was getting yelled at by the Schnee heire- scratch the nearly part. Ouch. Two girls were bantering as they left the airship, one seemed to be laughing at the other for her shaky balance. An energetic girl was talking a quiet boy’s ear off.

A hand tapped her shoulder, she turned to find a girl wearing… very little. “Excuse me love, can I get some directions? You seem to know where you’re headed.”

“Ah, of course. Uh, I assume you’re here for initiation?”

“Well, I’m certainly not a second year.”

“Just follow me then, I am too. We’re meant to be headed to the auditorium.”

The girl smirked, and offered a hand, “Thanks hun, I’m Evelynn. Nice to meet you and all those pleasantries.”

“Kai’sa.”

They walked in silence until Evelynn spoke again, “So, silent type huh? Whatever does it for ya I guess.”

“I’m not exactly used to casual conversation,”

“Fair, fair.” Eve smirked, “So, you one of those legacy huntresses? Taught to ‘defend the world!’ and ‘Uphold honour!’ since you could hold a sword?”

“…Something like that.”

“Well, I suppose not a _sword,_ what _are_ those things coming out of you back?”

“Shoulder-Implanted X01 Cannons.”

“Oooh, nice. Good to know I’m not the only one with implants- well…” She gestured provocatively to her chest which was… not especially necessary, “With _weapon_ implants. _These_ are all natural.”

“…Ok? Uh, good to know?”

“…you’re no fun.” And now this strange girl was pouting. Was Kai’sa out of touch with society, or was Evelynn just strange?

Probably, she mused, both.

“Excuse me, Miss Daimon.” Glynd- Professor Goodwitch was approaching them swiftly, her face set into a scowl, “I know our uniform rules are lax here at Beacon, but you _are_ still required to wear _clothes_.”

Evelynn just pouted more, and gestured to her shadowy bikini-like outfit, “I am! These are clothes!”

Goodwitch sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Well, to begin with, I know damn well that’s your semblance. And, more importantly, that ‘outfit’ would be considered scandalous as _beachwear_!”

Evelynn’s frown deepened and she opened her mouth to argue, when Kai’sa decided to interject, “You can borrow something of mine for the opening ceremony, if you want?”

“Right, because I’m sure Little Miss Power Armour has s _uch_ a fashion sense.”

Kai’sa bristled slightly. Her X01 Butterfly Suit was the pinnacle of technological development, it was designed for function not fashion.

A small smirk graced Gly-Professor Goodwitch’s usually stern face as she said, “I don’t know. I’m sure Kai’sa has something in the back of her closet that you could pull off.”

Evelynn instantly scowled, her eyes narrowing into a glare, “Excuse you!? Pull off!? I can pull off anything! Come on Shoulder Pads, show me my options!”

And with that Kai’sa was being dragged away. So, the other girl’s pride was easily manipulated then. It didn’t take long to get to her temporary lodgings, they were located right beside the hall they had been heading towards. Most of her belongings where already packed into the duffel bag leaning against the door, ready to move into her new room after initiation, but most of her casual clothes were still neatly organised on her bed- waiting for a wardrobe to shove them into the back of, to avoid answering awkward questions about why she never wore them in public.

Evelynn looked faintly surprised, then approving as she glanced over her options. She grabbed a black crop top with a blue gem and held it up against herself before turning to the mirror. She hummed lightly, and her white hair turned purple, to red, to black with a streak of blue that matched the gem. Her semblance? She dug around Kai'sa's clothes, finding a very short pair of black shorts lined in gold- which Kai'sa couldn't honestly recall buying, or see herself wearing. The shadowy outfit she had been wearing changed to reflect the clothes she was holding, and she stared at herself, making a few other small changes to her appearance- a faint tattoo around her torso, her strange tail-like weapons getting a blue tint- before nodding with a smile and turning to Kai'sa, who had been lurking in her doorway.

“Well, this is acceptable I suppose. Give me a minute to get changed luv?”

Kai’sa nodded absent-mindedly and left the room. She’d probably be slightly late to Oz’s opening speech, but she was sure he wouldn’t be saying anything she didn’t already know- and if he did, Glynda would probably tell her.

Belatedly, she realised she’d seen Evelynn’s semblance before.

It had to be some strange coincidence- there was no way it could’ve gotten into Beacon, if it was even still alive!

But she couldn’t stop the hairs on the back of her neck rising or her parasites shifting as she recalled the strange Grimm she’d watched Salem create, and force chunks of her soul into.

For one terrifying moment, it had looked truly human.


	2. Tensions Rising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I was going for an ‘honorary aunt’ angle like with Qrow and Ruby in canon, but then halfway through the scene I just went ‘fuck it’ and made Glynda Kassadin’s sister. So yeah, that’s a thing. 
> 
> I’m really going off the rails with my plans for Glynda, I sure hope it isn’t all proven non-canon when we get back to Vale- well, more non-canon.

Glynda sighed and drank a gulp of her now-cold coffee as she placed the document she had been reading back on the pile. Between other’s meddling and Ozpin’s insistence that everyone be given a chance, Glynda found herself doing this little ritual at the start of every year- re-reading all the transcripts she and others had noticed were suspicious, but Oz had let in anyway.

The most recent one, Katarina Du Couteau, was of the former variety- even Ozpin wouldn’t let _either_ Du Couteau sister within ten feet of students normally, but General Du Couteau had thrown his weight around and now they were stuck hoping whichever poor student was the girl’s target could hold their own against the Sinister Blade. Her sister likely was only here to make nice with Weiss Schnee, and the brother had thankfully not been admitted. Small mercies.

Still, at least the Du Couteau’s were known quantities. There were two of her least favourite files this year. Two files of people who had appeared from nowhere- well, four, but it hadn’t taken much digging to learn of Blake Belladonna’s sordid past, and Jaune Arc just had the most blatantly faked transcripts she’d ever seen. Only two files were _still_ \- the night before _initiation_ \- complete mysteries. Evelynn Daimon and Ahri Snow. Her current problems.

As much as she was glad Kai’sa had made something resembling a friend, she really wished it could’ve been literally anyone except Evelynn. Something about the girl was just… off-putting, even without her suspicious circumstances.

And her niece had picked up on it.

“…And her semblance… it looked like the Grimm- the one I told you about? When she left the door open? And- I _know_ I’m just being paranoid, that thing _burned_ from my soul, I _saw_ it burn but…”

“But it was enough to freak you out?”

“…yeah.”

She leaned back and opened her arms. Kai’sa happily leaned in, still adjusting to contact after years in that hell. More than ever since the girls return, Glynda was dedicated to stopping that monster in every way she could- it had taken her niece from her for years, and permanently marred her relationship with Kassadin. He had never quite forgiven her for standing by Oz when he took the blame for Kai’sa being taken.

If Salem dared to make her grand play in Glynda’s lifetime, she would most certainly be taking her pound of flesh- for Kai’sa, for Kassadin, for every student she’d lost to that bitch. 

“So, what is Evelynn’s actual semblance anyway?”

“Those shadows she had the _audacity_ to call clothing earlier. She can turn invisible at will and shapeshift with them, to a degree. Exactly like you saw.” Glynda smiled comfortingly, “Don’t worry, even Oz isn’t forgiving enough to let an actual _Grimm_ study here.”

“Just me.” Kai’sa smirked, sardonically.

Glunda huffed and playfully poked her nose, “None of that. You know what I meant- you’re still human in the important ways.”

Kai’sa hugged tighter and smiled, and Glynda turned back to her paperwork, now with one hand. Blake Belladonna’s file was next- she’d organised by priority, and while Ozpin was convinced the Faunus was genuinely trying to turn a new leaf, she fully intended to keep a close eye on the former member of the White Fang- as he no doubt knew.

“Yo, Professor, can I-” a burst of green darted into the room without knocking, and paused in the doorway, “Oh sorry, are you busy?”

Glynda just sighed as Kai’sa stood up quickly. “Yes. What do you want Akali.”

“Just a peak at some files- made a pal, want to check them out, y’know how I am.”

“Yes, I’m very aware of your rampant paranoia.”

“Is it paranoia if people are really out to get you?”

Glynda didn’t bother to answer, instead just pulling the photocopy of Ahri’s file she’d made earlier and passing it to Akali. “She’s from outside the kingdoms. We don’t have much, but what we do have is trustworthy.”

Evelynn’s transcripts claimed a long history of learning at one of the smaller Academies in Minstral- an academy which had never heard her name and had a shady reputation of its own besides. Ahri meanwhile hadn’t even bothered with that much, simply filling the qualifications area of her application with ‘lived in the area surrounding Mantle for the last 8 years’ -which didn’t even make sense, as the area she supposedly had lived in was uninhabitable, but she had claimed her semblance had kept her alive and given the firey aspect of it Ozpin had chosen to believe her. Nevermind what a 10-year-old was doing with a semblance to begin with.

Still, Akali didn’t need to know that- the Faunus’ semblance, while powerful, wouldn’t be enough to stop the former Fist of Shadows from winning that fight. And, if Ahri was genuinely all that she seemed, the last thing the poor girl needed was an assassin breathing down her neck.

Akali hummed lowly in thought as she read the file, before tossing it back and nodding to Kai’sa, who was awkwardly standing to the side. “Sup. I’m Akali. Guessing you’re the niece the Prof mentioned?”

“Um. Yes. I’m Kai’sa, nice to meet you Akali,”

“Yeah, you too. Night Prof- wait.” She leaned over the desk, reading the file Glynda had just put down, “Kata’s here? …Kata’s a _redhead_ now?”

Glynda gulped down the last of her coffee- so close! -and nodded.

“Jeez, the hell is she doing here!?”

“Ozpin wasn’t given much choice regarding the Du Couteau sisters,”

Akali just stared, before throwing her hands up in the air and walking out, making one last comment as she went, “Kat’s not the one to be looking at- whoever they’re here to kill, Cassiopeia is the one with the knife.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because Katarina’s too good to need to be this blatant. She slipped right under _my_ nose with a bottle of _hair dye_ earlier.”

With that, she was gone. Kai’sa left shortly after with a final hug and reminder to get some sleep herself.

This would definitely be an _interesting_ year.

-^-^-

Ahri couldn’t sleep.

Whoever it was that had that damn invisibility semblance was still at it- shouldn’t their Aura have ran out by now?!- and someone _else_ in the hall had set every hair on her body tingling. Like she wouldn’t have enough problems with _one_ semblance interaction that constantly made her feel like she needed to puke, she had _two._

Those two, combined with the clamouring and burning Aura’s of everyone in the crowded hall made it impossible for Ahri to sleep. She could barely stand just being in the same hall as it all, and she really hoped their souls would calm down when they passed out- who knows how the hell she’d get through classes dealing with this many people around.

Eventually, she had enough. The room was completely dark, so she felt fairly confident that no-one except other Faunus could see as she got out of her sleeping bag and walked out into the night air. It felt far too warm, compared to the near-deadly Mantle winters she was used to. She wandered around the courtyard, taking in the stars and the beautiful view- which was so much easier to appreciate with two feet safely on the ground.

At least she’d made a friend, in this new home of hers. Akali was nice enough, awkward meeting aside, and she seemed to know what she was doing. It might be nice to be on a team with her?

Suddenly, she could sense the strange presence behind her. She whirled around, frantically trying to catch a glimpse of this jerk- and found they weren’t invisible this time. The girl before her was tall, with black hair streaked a blue that matched the highlights of her outfit. And, despite Ahri’s self-assurance that it had just been the other girls semblance, she still _radiated_ the emptiness that made Ahri feel sick to her stomach.

And she was still approaching.

When she got within arm’s length, Ahri bolted. She stopped thinking and just _ran._ That girl was a predator, and Ahri decidedly did not like the feeling of being prey.

The emptiness followed for a while, before eventually falling behind and stopping its pursuit entirely as Ahri reached the small forest on the edge of campus.

Like hell was she going to go back to the halls after that!

She found a nice tree, tall enough to keep her out of reach of Grimm but low enough she wouldn’t be hurt if she fell, and climbed it, finding a comfortable branch and curling up at the base, her tail wrapped around her.

She dreamt of Initiation.


	3. Initiation I

As she was launched off a cliff, Ahri briefly wondered if Beacon was really worth it. She could just get an experienced Huntsman to take her as an apprentice- surely that couldn’t be too hard? Easier than being flung off the same cliff that held _two_ people who made her want to be violently ill. Particularly the cliff part. That was very unpleasant.

As she fell to the tree level, she quickly grabbed a branch and used it as a bar, hissing as the rough bark scraped her skin through her aura. Deftly, she darted between the trees, landing on the forest floor with a roll.

Well, that was one problem sorted. She extended her semblance’s sense, finding the closest of the two headaches- ah, Miss Invisibility. She set off in the opposite direction at a sprint- there was no way in hell she’d share her dorm with them! She could barely stand them in a massive room, if she was stuck in a confined space with them for _years_ she’d never sleep again!

…ok, maybe that was a slight exaggeration. Already their auras were more bearable, she’d quickly get used to it. Still, that girl in particular was perhaps the least appealing person to partner with in the whole academy- even moreso than those jerks who’d been sneering at her tail, or the idiots who’d catcalled her in the corridor but were to cowardly to hit on her _properly_.

Akali would be pretty cool to team with, although she had been nowhere to be found this morning, appearing on the cliff seemingly out of nowhere, so they hadn’t talked since Akali disappeared last night. That champion girl- Nickles? Was certainly strong, but she probably came with n autograph line. The kid who supposedly sneezed the Schnee of a cliff would be fun, but Ahri had no idea who that was.

Heh. Schnee-zed.

The only person in her general direction who she truly didn’t want to be on a team would be… the girl she just barreled straight into, so focused on Invisibitch she wasn’t looking- or sensing- where she was going. Fuck.

“Um… why are you running away from the temple?”

Doublefuck.

-

Kai’sa, as she introduced herself, turned out to be much less terrifying than the Invisible Creep- not that that made a high bar. She was definitely a competent fighter, it showed in her muscle definition as easily as her cautious, watching posture. Where the other headache gave the feeling of being stalked by a predator, Kai’sa felt more like walking beside a wandering wolf, separated from its pack. She walked purposefully, unquestioning and alert, yet sorrow and loneliness hung around her like a cloak, seeped into her very bones beneath the disgusting outer layer of her headache-inducing semblance.

Wait. Two birds one stone- answers and conversation!

“So, what’s your thing, Wolfie?”

The other girl looked confused for a moment, before replying, “Um. I have cannons. I’m very agile, but not the best at taking a hit. I’ll heal fast, even when my Aura goes though.”

“Oh? Is healing fast your semblance then?”

Kai’sa shifted, fiddling with the edge of her armour, “Adaptability. What about you?”

“Eating souls.”

Kai’sa just stared blankly.

“…well, you’re fun at parties.” Ahri sighed, “ _Really_ high-end Aura manipulation- the kinda stuff you could dedicate your whole life too, and never reach- it comes naturally to me.”

“Oh. That’s interesting. Does it apply to other fields of study, or just your Aura?”

“Just Aura, sadly- hence, no sword. Didn’t have time to learn one on my way to Beacon, and no reason to back home.”

“ah.”

They walked in awkward silence for a while, Kai’sa walking slightly ahead.

“Do you have… hobbies?” Kai’sa asked, hesitantly.

Ahri smirked, and cheerfully replied, “Nope!”

“Ah. Neither do I.”

“Anything you want to try? Video games seem fun, and I’m a pretty good singer- if I may say so myself!”

“Adapting combat into dance has always seemed interesting to me but I… haven’t had chance to try yet,” Kai’sa hesitantly continued, “Video games might be fun to… try together?”

Yes! Progress! “Sure! There’s this one I’ve been interested in trying, it’s called Invasio- do you hear that?”

Her ears perked towards the sound. Ursa. Two of them. And Invisibitch was… running alongside them. Quickly and quietly passing the information to Kai’sa, she jumped onto a low hanging branch on the edge of the clearing they’d come to a stop in- sloppy, to be distracted when they were so open to attack.

Kai’sa sprinted forward, temporarily disappearing before a slight shuffle of leaves and a faint blue light revealed her in the bush.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1.

Right as Invisibitch ran beneath, Ahri dropped from her branch and reached inside herself. An orb of blue fire appeared around her as she fell, landing right in front of one of the charging Ursas. With a wink and a flick of her wrist, it slowed to a halt in front of her, allowing her to easily toss the ball into it, causing fire to explode out of it as it faded into shadows. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kai’sa fire her cannons, colliding with the second Ursa and distracting it while she sprinted forward, into a range where a mass of smaller bullets could hit it in quick succession, quickly chipping it to dust.

“Ah, thanks luvs.” Invisibitch stalked towards them, smirking, and every hair on Ahri stood straight on edge. “I got caught of guard by those two big boys- well, there were three when we started, but those impatient ones simply _wouldn’t_ wait there turns… naughty boys.”

“Ah, hello Evelynn.” Kai’sa… smiled? Ok, so Invisibitch wasn’t a bitch to everyone. Or weird migraine-inducing Auras of a feather flock together? “I’m glad to see you.”

“Of course you are, I’m gorgeous. What had you so spooked last night anyway, Shoulder Pads?”

“Ah… your semblance brought back something I’d… rather not recall.”

“Yeah, what the fuck is it!?” Ahri wouldn’t run this time, she was getting some damn answers!

Evelynn glanced at her over those magenta shades, “Really? That’s the first thing you say after glaring at me for a day straight, and running of when I try to have a little chat?”

“I was glaring at you because you’re a _walking migraine_! And you stalked me in the dead of night when I was actively avoiding you for that ‘little chat’!”

“Well _sorry_ you made yourself damn near impossible to find with that ninja friend of yours!”

“I was in the middle of a room! And you can’t talk Miss Invisible!” Ahri snarled out, before sighing and turning around. “Just- whatever. We shouldn’t fight here, we’ll attract Grimm.”

Evelynn huffed, and followed Ahri, who stalked away into the forest. Kai’sa hesitated, glancing between the two, before darting to the front of the group.

Up on the cliff, Ozpin glanced up from his tablet and chuckled. “Miss Snow didn’t actually get an answer to her question.”

Glynda sighed, already rubbing her forehead to ward of a headache- another yearly tradition, from too much stress and not enough sleep. “And Miss Daimon is even more concerning- I’m sure you saw what she did to those Ursa?”

“Ah, her methods may have been… exceptionally violent, but she did achieve impressive results.” he took a sip of his coffee, “Although, I’m curious as to what would make such a proud individual downplay her own achievements- unless my counting is severely off, that was more than one Ursa she took down.”

“I’m more curious who taught her how to fight like that- she’s more brutal than any fighter I’ve ever met.”

Yes, Evelynn Daimon was most certainly a face to focus on. Still… Ozpin watched with a smile as the trio walked through the forest- despite the tension lingering in the air, they moved like a well-oiled machine. Kai’sa cleared a path through the rough undergrowth, firing her cannons whenever it got truly impassable, Ahri dancing around, dipping in and out of trees to keep a watchful eye and listening ear, and Evelynn, once more encased in shadows, only barely revealed by the smallest flutters of a leaf or gentle sway of a branch as she matched step with whichever was closer.

If this was how they worked together through awkward tensions and lingering distrust, he couldn’t _wait_ to see how they would work together by the end of the year.


	4. Initiation II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I wanted to know how many Beowolves Ruby killed in her trailer- I lost count at 20. And that was before the music upkick and reload. So yeah, the numbers are entirely rule of cool in this show and I love that.

Quinn panted as she ran through the burning undergrowth. Some _idiot_ had been using fire dust in the forest, and now the whole place was ablaze- at least the section she and her partner, currently passed out over her shoulders, were in. Valour was soaring above the flames, and he’d signalled some other students were cutting off the flames, shooting down the surrounding trees or using a much more controlled application of fire to cut off the flames.

Which _had_ been Quinn’s plan.

She’d been in the Patch Rangers for years at Signal, she knew how to handle a forest fire so, when Val told her about the fire, she’d instantly changed course. The redhead she’d partnered with had objected, but Quinn really didn’t care. Huntresses helped _everything_ , even the furry little guys everyone overlooked. And besides, they were training to fight Grimm, what was chopping down a few trees?

A lot, as it turned out. Val ducked down, bombing whatever the weird-ass Grimm chasing after them was. Red (she really wasn’t good with names, ok!?) had seemed to recognise it, but before she could pass on that very helpful information, she had charged it. Predictably, her twin knives barely effected the living pile of boulders she ran up the side of, the massive gouges she put in it barely seemed an inconvenience to that thing. Getting thrown off it into a burning tree on the other hand, proved quite effective in knocking Red out cold- and Quinn wasn’t dumb enough to fight while trying to keep her safe. Unfortunately, the only path was _through_ the burning forest which… not ideal. At all. She could feel her aura draining fast, and Red didn’t even have hers _up_ right now, if she even had any left after that disastrously short fight. They needed to get out fast. Quinn sped up to an outright sprint.

And then, she tripped.

It was such a rookie mistake. A stray root got underfoot, sending her flying. Val cried out, coming to a land, and flaring his wings protectively between them and the Grimm. She tried to command him to leave, get himself away, but it was fruitless- that skid must have taken her Aura out, and with it her bond to Val’s mind. His squarks were just squarks, and her word wouldn’t mean anything to him either. Not that he would listen anyway, he was as stubborn as her.

She braced herself, as the Rock-Grimm raised a massive fist and slammed it down on her. Only it never came. Tentatively, she opened her eyes and found a girl dressed in green, holding the rocky fist on the blade of a sickle-looking thing.

Quickly getting over her surprise, she whistled to Val- a pre-decided command, telling him to grab her, but she pointed to Red before turning to her mystery helper, “Hey, need a lead out?”

Greenie grunted, pushing away the fist and lobbing some smoke bombs at the strange mask on the biggest of the boulders and hopping back to next to Quinn. “Yes please! Burning is _not_ how I want to go!”

Quinn just nodded and gestured to Val and Greenie to follow her. Hopefully, she could remember the route Val had found them.

Ahri was five seconds away from setting Eve on fire. Or just throwing her into the nearby forest fire. She’d be fiiiine, it had almost burnt out by now. At least, on this side. The other end was still burning merrily, but it seemed unlikely to reach up the cliff so they’d leave it be- Professor Ozpin could probably deal with that once Initiation was over, right? She hoped so, wildfires could do some real damage to ecosystems, and Ahri had nearly gone hungry a few harsh winters- and Anima forest fires tended to put _themselves_ out pretty fast.

Given the roars coming their way, animals weren’t the only thing effected. Ahri ducked into a remaining bush on the safe side of the area she’d cut off, and both migraines disappeared where they stood- Kai’sa coming to her side, and Eve doing who knows what because god-forbid they communicate. Two girls ran ahead of the howls, one staggering and half supported by the other, who was repeatedly throwing odd projectiles behind her, which held the Beowolves they hit in place for a moment. It slowed the crowd, but not by much. Ahri was about to jump in, when from slightly further along the forest a bird burst from the trees, carrying an uncosious redhead limp in its talons, closely followed by a girl dressed in a blue undersuit and some light armour and- Akali!

Behind them a giant Geist burst through the foliage, its body made out of boulders. Shit. She glanced around everyone’s souls… “Flashlight, Snakey, tag out with Akali! You four keep that thing off of us while we deal with the pack! Akali, take the side closest to you, Kai take the bottom ones, I’ll take the middle- Eve, pick up any strays, and keep us safe!”

…in hindsight, that probably scared Flashlight and Snakey. And Snakey probably wasn’t the best nickname now she could see the scales around the girl with a stone-eyes semblance’s wrists, and the forked tongue poking out in irritation. Oh well, she didn’t have time to focus on them now. She just hoped team ‘was stuck in a forest fire’ could hold out long enough through their exhaustion for them to clean up the Beowolves and deal with the Geist.

Whatever. She had her own fight to deal with. Snakey looked like she was going to protest, but Flashlight just nodded and tugged her away, already readying another one of her odd projectiles from her staff. Between her weird light tricks and Snakey’s stone eyes, they should be able to keep the unconscious teleporter alive- at least until she woke up and could harry the Grimm for them like Bird Girl’s pet Bird could.

So, Ahri took off at a sprint, directly into the centre of the pack, just like she said she would. As she ran, the ground below her feet all but lit up in spiritual fire and countless orbs circled her- there were abound sixty wolves, all of varying sizes and ages. As she made contact with the first few, lobbing orbs all around herself with an uncanny accuracy despite- actually because of- her closed eyes, she sensed Kai’sa charge in on her right, cannons blazing, as Akali jumped on the one closest to her, a fist full of Kunai ready to tear it to shreds.

The young Beowolves didn’t stand a chance, most going down in one or two hits. The older ones though… She ducked under a stray claw swipe, summoning her orb and throwing it directly through the big one in front of her, already running to her next targets before checking that one was down. Which was a mistake. It pounced on her from behind, pinning her to the ground beneath its weight. She struggled futilely- it was too heavy, she never cared for physical strength- it’s jaws snapped and snarled, ever closer to her _neck_ -

And then, it exploded. Not in a ‘got shot’ way, in a ‘got eviscerated’ way. Which is what happened. Judging by the manic grin as a lasher pulled Ahri to her feet, Eve was having a wonderful time with this fight. She disappeared as soon as Ahri threw herself back into the fight with a friendly nod, reappearing beside the shroud Akali had disappeared into when four of the larger wolves had targeted her. A lasher plunged into the nearest one, wrapping around its facsimile of a spine and _yanking_. Pretty. She pulled herself towards its already fading form, and launched herself onto its pal, stabbing it with the free lasher and reaching down into the ground, pulling a series of spikes out and through it. Such a shame she couldn’t take her time.

While she’d brutalised two of the wolves, Akali took her opening to jump out of her shroud, flipping over both Grimm and slashing through them, tossing a handful of Kunai behind her before spinning on her heel, dashing backwards and cleanly slicing through their now exposed weak areas. With a shared smirk, they both jumped back into the fray.

Kai’sa fought with a ruthless efficiency. Her cannons targeted all of the smaller Grimm while she threw herself onto the largest ones with her handguns and, when she needed to reload, the pointed edges shredded through Grimm bone with ease. She was careful to monitor her aura, having it in the corner of her display, but really, she needn’t have worried. These Grimm were nothing.

Lux, if her semblance let her read minds, would _very much disagree._ Her aura was almost completely empty from the combination of constant use of her semblance and… well… smoke inhalation. Not fun. Speaking of, she was really worried about Katarina. Her probably-future-stepsister hadn’t moved since the girl with a really cool bird had dragged both of them up a tree, perching to pepper the Geist with her crossbow while her bird harried it and Lux and Cassiopeia kept it from getting to close. Which seemed like a really good idea when the cool looking Fox Faunus had appeared from nowhere and yelled it, but now Lux was beginning to doubt- surely it would’ve been smarter for her to herd the Beowolves away, while Mystery Plan Girl used that strange charm she was using to distract some of the bigger Grimm while she finished off their children on the biggest Grimm. Which was a really weird sentence out of context. But also, how did Cool Mystery know her semblance in the first place? And- focus Lux! Big Grimm!

Its sweeping leg sent her flying, and she barely rolled out from under it’s crushing arm.

Ok, plan wait for other people to help was _officially_ not going to work, “Um, Bird Girl? Can you hold it yourself a second for me!?”

Bird girl snickered at the nickname but looked at her like she was nuts at the request. Which… was fair.

“Please? I have an idea, I need Cassi!”

Bird Girl just sighed and let out a low whistle which the bird took as a command to retreat, grabbing a hold of Bird Girl’s -Lux really needed to learn her name! -shoulders, which seemed to have special ridges just for this manoeuvre. With a different whistle and a quick gesture, Bird threw Bird Girl at the Grimm, and she peppered a few bolts directly into its eye before kicking off and getting caught inches above the ground by her bird.

Cassiopeia turned, jogging to Lux’s side, before asking about the plan.

“It’s pretty simple really… uh, you use the rest of your Aura holding it still, I use the rest of mine, um, deleting it?”

Like Bird Girl, Cassi was clearly not sold on this plan. Unlike Bird Girl she voiced this. “And if you can’t, quote, ‘delete it’? And the only one left fighting this thing with any Aura is my reckless sister, currently _asleep_!?”

“I resemble that remark.” Katarina appeared behind them, with the sudden, quiet sound being the only warning and a tiny sway as she leaned fprward the only indication she just woke from a potential concussion, “And, if that happens, then the new plan is that I grab you two, Shunpo away and leave these girls to their fate.” She smirked and clapped Lux’s shoulder, “No pressure! I’m going to go get Quinn out of your blast zone, have fun Sparky.”

Cassi clearly had more to say, but just as clearly was outvoted. Still, she looked ready to kill something when Bird Girl’s Bird (try saying THAT five times fast! …Focus!) grabbed onto her shoulders and flew her towards the Geist, deftly avoiding its wild strikes as Cass yelped in his talons. Suddenly, it swooped, placing Cassiopeia at a perfectly even eye-level. And suddenly, it was uncannily still, like… well, like a pile of rocks with a mask on. Lux channelled all of her Aura into the centre of her baton, making it spin as it repeatedly tried to release the stored energy from both ends. And then, she let go.

And the world faded to black.

-_-_-

Up on the cliff, the atmosphere was tense.

“Oz… please tell me you planned that? It was some kind of surprise test you shipped in from James?”

Ozpin solemnly shook his head, staring intently at his tablet as he hid his shock behind his coffee mug. The Deathstalker not being found was one thing- it had evidently been sleeping for a long time, and the Arc boy had gotten _quite_ lost. Nevermores could often migrate unpredictably, and Miss Rose had outright sought that one out. Even the Beowolf pack being that big could just be neglect on the part of the second years sent to clear the forest.

But Geist’s weren’t native to Vale- it was about the only place on Remnant they _weren’t_ likely to be found. On its own, he may be willing to dismiss it as a fluke, but alongside everything else? Salem was plotting.

He watched as the two teams- for there were only two pairs of chess pieces left, and they were the closest group even with their various injured members- some combination of those eight would be his last two teams- made their way to the ruins. They’d split into two smaller groups of four, presumably to lessen their chances of being attacked, splitting the healthier four among the two groups, at Miss Snow’s suggestion.

She’d be a good leader for one of the teams. Even if she had underestimated the Geist, the short blonde she was carrying indicated that, if nothing else, she was capable of owning her mistakes. Speaking of the youngest Crownguard. He hoped she’d be on the other team- even if the girl hadn’t shown a certain head for leadership, and a rare ability in her family to disobey orders, he would hate to have to listen to General Crownguard’s complaint’s that her niece hadn’t been made a team leader. And she would probably need that position of authority to have the slightest chance of not conflicting with Cassiopeia, even if Katarina were on the same team to balance out her younger sister’s arrogance with her own brand of arrogance.

Glynda sighed, muttering something about how she shouldn’t care- he knew as well as she did that she didn’t mean a word and was simply complaining for complaints sake. Because annoyance was better than worry, or fear.

“I’ll make a note to increase security around the forest next year sir.”

“That would be appreciated, Glynda.”


	5. The First Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I nearly posted a random meme instead of this chapter by accident XD
> 
> Anyway, anyone else play Age of Calamity? Cause, that game is awesome. I've only done the first 2 levels, but calling it now Zelda made the Eggy boi!

“Quinn Uwendale, Luxanna Crownguard, Katarina Du Couteau, Cassiopeia Du Couteau. The four of you claimed the White Rook piece. You shall form team LUCK, led by… Luxanna Crownguard.”

“Kai’sa Goodwitch, Ahri Snow, Evelynn Daimon, Akali Tethi. You gathered the Black Queen pieces. You shall be known as team AKDA lead by… Ahri Snow.”

It was two exhausted teams who staggered to their new dorms that night. Without much conversation, Team LUCK found their dorms and collapsed into beds, Valour foregoing his perch to curl up besides Quinn and the sisters briefly and good-heartedly bickering over who got the bed closest to the window.

Team AKDA, on the other hand, were slightly better off. And, with the exception of Akali who simply walked to the closest bed to the door and passed out cold, they were much less comfortable sleeping in the same room.

Kai’sa was laying stiff as a board and still in her armour, albeit it without the helmet, on Akali’s left, with Evelynn taking the bed beside the wall to her left and had slipped into the shadows. Ahri was in the bed furthest from them, the pillow pressed over her ears, trying very hard to tune out their souls. She had thought a smaller room would be better but not only were both of her biggest headaches here (and Evelynn was invisible _again._ Did her Aura _ever_ run out?), the smaller group turned a loud white noise into a clear conversation. At least Akali’s quietness indicated that natural sleep did lessen the noise as much as unconsciousness? Not that that helped with just how loud Kai’sa’s nerves and stress were echoing.

Right. Team leader time because she needed some sleep tonight. And was the team leader for some reason. And team leaders took care of their team. Which she had no idea how to do. Ok.

Evelynn was a lost cause- she could barely sense the girl, in the annoyingly loud silence that was her semblance, much less why she was still awake. Assuming she was and that wasn’t just typical Eve volume. By the Brothers she hoped not.

Kai’sa on the other hand… careful not to wake Akali, Ahri shuffled over to Kai’sa and gently shook her armoured shoulder. Kai’sa jumped, turning towards her and Ahri quickly pointed in the direction of the attached kitchen. Kai’sa nodded slowly, confusion evident on her face and followed her into the kitchen.

“What’s your favourite hot beverage?” Ahri asked,

Kai’sa blinked slowly, “Um… hot chocolate?”

“Do the kitchens come with any?”

“No, but, um, I have some? Well, there should be some in the cupboard- my Aunt thinks I don’t know, but I saw her sneak some here ahead of us for me,”

“Aw, that’s sweet of her.” Ahri smiled, “The deputy headmistress, right?”

“Yes,” Kai’sa glanced around, “Um. Is there a reason for this?”

“Kinda,” Ahri laughed, “My semblance keeps me awake sometimes, and, well, misery loves company, right?”

“How does Aura manipulation keep you awake?”

Ahri froze a second, before pouring the hot water into the two hot chocolates, “Ok, so, any time you ask about my semblance, please for the sake of convenience just… assume I’m lying? I don’t like explaining it, so I tend to just… go with whatever’s good enough to answer in the moment?”

“I… can understand that.” Kai’sa sipped her chocolate, considering her words, “I… have things I prefer not to share.”

“Things we might see, if we look to closely?”

“…you are remarkably to the point, aren’t you?”

“When I want to be,” Ahri smiled, “And, it’s kind of my job to deal with your problems now isn’t it? We can get some curtains tomorrow- I’ll get us all a set, maybe that’ll make Eve stop pulling a vanishing act every time we blink.”

“That… would be appreciated. Thank you. Although…” Kai’sa worried her lip slightly- a habit never quite stopped from childhood, “…It’s not just your job to help us- you can talk about whatever was keeping you up, if, ah, that might help?”

Ahri blinked, ears perked in surprise. “Thank you but… to be honest, it really is just Semblance stuff. I… can’t really sleep well around other people? I grew up… pretty alone. People are a novel experience.”

“That, I can relate to.” Kai’sa smiled shyly, “I’ve found… walks help? And it might be nice to know the grounds for tomorrow if you’re not too tired?”

“Sure, if you don’t mind?”

She just raised her mug with a smile, “I want to go thank Au-Professor Goodwitch for this anyway,”

Kai’sa lead Ahri through the halls of Beacon with an easy confidence. Really, she barely remembered the place- a few childhood memories here and there aside, she’d only been here a short while longer than anyone else- but she had easily memorised the path to her Aunt’s office. If nothing else, then from regularly coming to ask if she wanted anything while Kai’sa got herself a late-night drink. Even as a child, she could scarcely remember Glynda sleeping at regular hours, always so busy with work and… well. Kai’sa understood why her Aunt avoided sleep much better now than she had then.

“So… what’s Professor Goodwitch like?” Ahri asked, pulling ahead and turning to face her, “I mean, we have her first thing tomorrow…”

“Well, that depends.”

“On?”

“Whether you’re asking about my aunt, or our teacher. She acts very differently depending.” Kai’sa smiled slightly, “She’s very harsh with students- slacking off in her class could get you killed, after all- but beneath that, she’s the kindest person I know, just to name one example,”

“So, she’s pretty professional but not like, Atlesian about it?” Ahri asked with a smirk,

“That’s an apt summary, although I’ve not heard that particular turn of phrase before?”

“Oh, right, you wouldn’t have. It’s a very Mantle turn of phrase,” Ahri tilted her head slightly, “Where are you from, anyway? I’d assume Vale but I’ve never heard your accent before?”

“Vacuo, initially. My father was from Vale though, he met my mother when work took him to Vacuo, and I travelled a lot as a child, so my accent is… somewhat muddled.”

Ahri nodded, and they lapsed back into a comfortable silence as they reached the door to Glynda’s office, and Kai’sa gently knocked before entering,

“Oh, hello Kai’sa. You do remember what I said about curfew, correct?” Glynda said, glancing up from her paperwork with a small smile,

“Sorry, I couldn’t sleep, and I wanted to thank you for this,” Kai’sa said sheepishly, raising her now empty mug, “Also, Ahri wanted a quick tour before tomorrow,”

“Ah, you have trouble sleeping too Miss Snow?”

“Uh, yeah, sometimes,” Ahri shuffled, fiddling with her tail, “Semblancey stuff,”

“Ah, yes we probably should have anticipated that… we can do something to accommodate your Semblance, if it’s giving you problems?”

“No. I need to… I’m fine, I can deal with it,”

“If you insist,”

Ahri nodded firmly, before smirking, “Oh, speaking of problem solving, we are allowed to do DIY in the dorms right?”

“…As ominous as that statement is, yes, although you are expected to _un_ \- ‘DIY’ your dorms at the end of your time here,”

“Oh, of course, we’re just heading down to Vale after lessons tomorrow to get some privacy curtains,” Ahri giggled, “I’ve seen boards less stiff than Kaisy, Kali’ll probably be worse when she’s not too tired to care, and who the hell knows where Eve is, so I figure a bit of privacy will solve _two_ of those problems.”

“That’s… very mature of you Miss Snow.”

“Well, I’m trying to be!” Ahri rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, “ _Especially_ after I kinda nearly got Luxy killed yesterday,”

“I assure you Miss Crownguard was safe,” Glynda lied, before smiling slightly at Kai’sa, “Regardless, you two should go back to your room before Professor Port finds you,”

“You assigned Uncle Pete to the curfew?” Kai’sa stiffened slightly, “On the _first night_?”

Glynda just smirked. “His lectures have a remarkable way of sticking with students,”

Kai’sa paled slightly and grabbed Ahri by the arm as she bolted out of the room, shooting a quick ‘goodnight’ over her shoulder.

Behind her, Glynda smiled. Maybe she _had_ been a little quick to judge Ozpin’s logic. Miss Snow would make a fine leader.

The shadows loomed dauntingly all around them, giving a distinctly foreboding feeling. Still, they had a job to do and they wouldn’t leave it undone. Even if, at this time of night, it was likely there would be nothing to report, if he left and she needed him, the boss would have his head.

He should consider this training, he decided. He was actively evading an academies worth of huntsmen and huntresses, in training and otherwise!

Contented by this train of thought, he settled back into his perch in the tree. Maybe he should get some meditation in?

As the sun rose in the east and the shattered moon sank beneath the west horizon, he stretched from his perch, dropping down silently from his perch with one last scanning of the area and glance to the (thankfully covered, he didn’t want the awkwardness of respecting their privacy while still keeping watch- he’d tell the boss to assign girls to this job in the future) window he’d been watching, he turned around and disappeared into the forest.

Where he had been, a beautiful woman appeared, as though from the shadows themselves. She stood for a moment, smirking in the direction he’d gone.

“Interesting…” Evelynn muttered.

Akali woke with the sun, like she always did. For one disorientating moment, she mistook the giggling voices to her right for the younger apprentices, sneaking into her room for some mischief. Gods, she’d been at Beacon for all of five minutes and it was making her soft.

As for who was giggling, it seemed like Ahri and Kai’sa had woken before her and were both sat on the Faunus’ bed to her right, chatting away far too much like morning people for Akali’s taste. Evelynn was still nowhere to be seen which, ok, she _didn’t_ get migraines from it like whatever was going on with Ahri and she was already sick of it, weren’t semblances meant to burn Aura like crazy? Though, she guessed if they were reflections of whatever lurked in your soul, they probably weren’t an exact science. Just another reason she’d chosen to rely more on her steel than her soul. Whatever. She didn’t really have a choice here at Beacon, Oz had already given her catchup lessons on Aura manipulation in place of half her combat classes.

Speaking of. “Mornin’ you two, I’m gonna go shower and scream at muscle memory for gettin’ me up so early.”

“Sounds like a wonderful plan luv,”

Akali whirled around, kunai in hand, and just barely stopped short of slitting Evelynn’s throat. Well, trying to, Aura’s were kind of bullshit.

“…well, hello to you too luv. Is that a knife to my throat or are you just happy to see me?” and this dumbass had the audacity to smirk.

“The first. And that innuendo didn’t even make sense.” Akali growled, sheathing the kunai into its place in her bag… which she slept in. As well as her clothes. Shit, this was going to be a long morning. “Do that again, and I _won’t_ stay my blade.”

As she headed into the shower, she swore she heard a quiet, pouty voice say, “Someone needs coffee…”

For the sake of not making good on her threat, she chose to ignore that.


	6. General Combat I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bleh, meant to have this chapter and next weeks as one, but they didn't flow properly. Also, fight scenes are hard, Kai'sa's perspective is harder and using the possessive apostrophe on Kai'sa just never looks right.

Kai’sa dragged them to class early, claiming a bench right at the front of the classroom. Akali had split off for a different class which had led to Ahri snickering lightly for some reason, and Evelynn dropped into the chair closest to the aisle and buried her head in her arms.

Her aunt looked up from her deck and smiled slightly, glancing at the clock before fondly shaking her head. “You had a free first, I’m guessing girls?”

“Yup! Caught up on sleep!” Ahri nodded enthusiastically, "While Eve did who knows what as usual!”

“What can I say? I’m a woman of mystery,” Evelynn reluctantly raised her head to smirk at Ahri, “And as our _esteemed leader_ I figured you should have some sleep, seeing as you two _stayed up all night,”_

“Thanks!” Ahri flicked Eve’s nose with her tail, getting a small glare in return.

They were only a few minutes early, Glynda returned to the paperwork and Eve returned to faking sleep. Ahri fiddled with an odd necklace she pulled from beneath her uniform shirt, seemingly subconsciously as she stared at the ceiling.

Gradually the rest of the class filtered in- Teams JNPR, CRDL and RWBY if Kai’sa remembered correctly. The Silver Eyed girl was definitely among them. As the last of the other students- a green haired boy who sat with the three boys in armour- filtered in, Glynda stood up from her desk and walked around to the centre of the room.

“Hello, welcome to General Combat. In this class you will hone your fighting skills within your teams and individually, as well as preparation for the Vytal Festival Tournament.” She tapped something on her tablet, causing the screens behind her to light up and reveal for spinning randomisers, with a ‘vs’ symbol in the middle, “For today, you’ll be fighting in two teams decided randomly. I will be using this to evaluate your strengths both individually and as a team, so do not hesitate.”

Kai’sa held her breath as the spinning wheels slowed to a stop. Team CRDL. She’d be fighting against the Silver Eyed one. Great. Her cannons shifted uneasily.

Ahri glanced at team CRDL, getting up with an edge of forced perkiness and grabbing Eve’s lasher before walking over to their desk, the row behind. “Hello boys! The other A has a different class right now so we’re at a slight disadvantage.”

“Of course we are.” The biggest of the boys- Cardin? That sounded right- scoffed, rolling his eyes, “We got the teacher’s brat, the coward and the animal.”

Ah. So that was how this was going to go. Eve’s Lasher’s raised and Kai’sa swore she heard a growl from the other girl. Kai’sa just let her helmet form over her head, hiding her glare.

Ahri, surprisingly, just laughed. “Yeah, this was unlucky, but what can we do about it? Although, for the record, Kai’sa’s the professor’s niece. So, what’s your big plan boys?”

“Just stay out of our way- leave the fighting to the people who know what they’re doing!” Cardin sneered.

“Sure, sure, we’ll stay back and cover you!” Ahri winked, “I’m sure that’s all you big, strong boys will need.”

Cardin seemed to completely miss the sarcastic lilt to her words and just grinned smugly, gesturing with a hand for his team to follow him down to the arena. As soon as he was out of earshot, Ahri stooped smiling and rolled her eyes.

“So girls, Kai’sa stay back and snipe with those cannons, Eve, stop them from doing the same- that’s a sniper mechanism in little red’s scythe right? -I’ll… try my best to keep them off you Kai’sa. Keep an eye out for them if you end up near them, their spatial awareness is garbage.”

“Oh?” Eve glanced at her with a hint of curiosity as they followed the other team, “Have you met these idiots before luv?”

“Kinda. Cardin’s a tournament fighter, I went to watch one once and, well, let’s just say he’s no Nikos.” Ahri frowned, ears twitching back on her head, “Who is also here. And on the other team. We’re losing.”

Normally Kai’sa would chastise her- going in to a fight convinced you would lose was a self-fulfilling prophecy after all- but in this case… even though Summer’s daughter didn’t know a thing about her power, she and her sister were still taught and raised by Team STRQ of all people, Weiss Schnee would’ve had the best teaching money could offer, and Pyrrah Nikos- well. She was _Pyrrah Nikos_. Even Kai’sa had heard of her. They hovered behind team CRDL, Eve already no where to be seen, and she prepped her cannons for repeated long-distance firing while Ahri summoned that strange orb she fought with, playfully bouncing it on her tail.

Across from them, Teams RWBY and JNPR had positioned themselves so that the redhead with a hammer, Pyrrha and Taiyang’s daughter were at the front, with Weiss, Blake and the boy dressed in green slightly behind, and all of them between CRDL’s loose line and Ruby and Jaune, who already had her Scythe blade lodged in the ground and shield opened respectively.

Her aunt tapped something else on her screen, and the team readouts shrunk in favour of a large countdown from five. “On zero everyone.”

4

3

2

1.

Instantly, Pyrrha launched herself on Dove, who barely raised his sword in time to block hers. Without even looking, she raised her shield to block Russels frantic shots from his dust revolvers, before throwing it in his direction as she spun quickly to disengage and re-engage Dove’s sword, catching her shield as it returned and slamming it into his head.

They _so_ weren’t winning this.

Taiyang’s daughter- she was called Yang, right? -slammed her fist into Sky’s face and hammer girl jumped into the air, ready to bring her hammer down. Instead she got hit square in the chest with a concussive projectile, and Kai’sa quickly recharged her cannons, aiming now at the Schnee heiress who was setting up a series of glyphs Kai’sa was _very_ certain she didn’t want to see completed. The Fire Dust bolt set her back but given the sniper round she quickly dodged and the cheeky wave it evidently got the attention of the younger Rose. Cardin and Jaune were… fighting may be too generous. Cardin was clearly toying with the blond, faking swings, lunging forward only to cackle, telegraphing his movements so obviously even a civilian would be able to tell.

So, it would be a while until she could snipe unhindered. She’d have to take out… Ruby? Ruby by herself. She danced around the next two shots, snuck a quick shot at Pyrrha, distracting her just long enough for Dove to escape her onslaught, and took the last two shots on her aura, listening for the tell-tale click of Ruby dropping her clip. While she reached for a new one, Kai’sa struck, blasting it out of her hands and then quickly firing a second shot at the ground where Ruby’s Scythe was jammed, blasting it free.

“A little help please!” Ahri called from behind her- what? Blake had gone missing. Kai’sa whirled around, forming her smaller guns around her hands, and dashing to help her leader. Blake had backed Ahri up to almost behind her and judging by the various bullet casings that had seemingly been burned before Kai’sa even noticed them, they’d been fighting for a while. Kai’sa blocked Blake’s sword on the barrel of her gun, pulling the other gun up to fire repeatedly into Blake’s ribs, knocking her back. Kai’sa glanced up at the screens, Blakes aura was a bit below half- although Ahri’s was much lower.

Ahri was also looking at their aura bars. She smirked, before cackling and summoning three blindingly bright orbs of fire, hurling them at Blake, instantly taking her Aura out completely. Two bells sounded, and Ruby’s aura instantly dropped into the red as the young girl yelped- what had happened there? The second the last orb left her hand, Ahri collapsed and near-instantly, Glynda’s semblance picked her up and safely carried her out of the battle zone.

Well. That was reckless. Two more bells rang out- a quick glance to where Ruby had been revealed a very dazed looking Eve glaring at Cardin and Yang outside the bounds of the arena, looking livid- what _had_ Eve done to take Ruby out so quickly?

Kai’sa recharged her cannons, firing at Pyrrha right as she brought her sword down on Sky’s head. She moved her shield into position inhumanly fast and her Aura took a slightly larger drain than simply taking the hit to her shield should produce. Interesting. Still, Sky was out leaving only Dove and wait, no, when had Russel been taken out?

Hammer girl was an easier target than Nikos. Cardin was charging to help Sky, completely unaware of the hammer about to slam into him. So, Kai’sa dived at her, cannons blaring. She ducked and weaved around the redhead’s hammer firing as many shots as possible, she quickly fired on the Schnee heiress, blasting both cannons at full charge before hastily returning to swiftly dodging hammer strikes. Two bells rang, and she added spear strikes and shield swipes to the dance.

Still, no waltz lasts forever. Kai’sa managed to chip away hammer girl’s aura just enough for the bell to ring- and in that short moment of distraction, Pyrrha’s shield slammed into the side of her head, sending her flying and one final bell ringing.

The lights came back up, and Glynda walked into the centre of the room. “Well done, everyone. RWBY, JNPR, take a break- your reward for winning. CRDL, AKDA, get out your notebooks. We’ll be going over why you didn’t win,”

“Well, that’s obvious isn’t it!” Cardin glared, “We were up against Nikos! This wasn’t fair!”

“Well, I’m sure whatever criminals you meet will be completely willing to stop and compare your competitive rankings Mr Winchester. But for now, maybe, instead of complaining that Miss Nikos is a better fighter than you _for now_ , you should work on becoming better than her _going forward,"_

Cardin grumbled, and sulkily dropped into his desk. Kai’sa walked to the sidelines, passing Team CRDL and helping the barely-stirring Ahri off the floor.

Well, this would be an interesting conversation.


	7. General Combat II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is a week and a bit late. Sorry, I had real world stuff happening, and I didn't really have time to write. Not entirely happy, there might be edits later.
> 
> That said: on RWBY end Glynda's cameo in Saturdays episode was hilarious- 'wtf Oz, Ruby, what are you doing'- even with the everything else in that episode which, YEAH, OUCH, I CRIED, Glynda's face in that one frame was hilarious.
> 
> And, on League end, I can't wait to play Rell (although currently my Blue Essence is all being spent on Champie's, because I keep getting Frejlord ones trying to get Demacian ones :(,) and Battle Queens marks the second event pass I've purchased, because I want that prestige. Diana was actually considered for Team LUCK in an early draft- her and Leona would have a kinda Blake/Ilia dynamic, but reciprocated. I got rid of it because it was much harder to fit them in? And they didn't have as fun a dynamic with Lux (the only one who's been in every draft of this actually, even before I decided on K/DA) as her In-law's and Quinn.

“So. First and foremost, what was your strategy going into this fight?”

The silence from CRDL was telling, but Ahri, sleepily leaning on Eve’s shoulder, muttered, “They hit stuff, we hit stuff that stops them hitting stuff.”

Glynda sighed, as Cardin smirked and nodded. “So. From what I saw Mr Winchester, you, with almost an entire team well suited to taking hits, left the job of watching over the sniper to the one who’s entire fighting style is based around _burning her aura?”_

“W-well! She was the one who decided that! I just told her to stay safe!”

“Specifically, ‘leave the fighting to the people who know what they’re doing,’” Eve growled, smirking despite her glare, “Which, while I’m no tactician, he seems to me to have gotten that the wrong way around,”

“W-Well! If you had a problem with it, why didn’t you say shit!” Cardin blustered,

“Language, Mister Winchester.” Glynda admonished, “although, you have a point? Miss Snow?”

“I don’t care,” Ahri sleepily answered, head still slumped on Eve’s shoulder, “it’s a training thing. Eve still got to stab people invisibly, I still got to light stuff on fire and I’m sure you already know what Kai’sa can do. So why fight this meathead, if it doesn’t matter?”

“You wanna call me that to my fac-!” Cardin jumped up from his seat with his mace raised, only for it to be yanked out of his hands in a faint purple aura.

“Need I remind you, that Miss Snow’s aura is currently down- it appears in large part due to _your_ poor planning Mister Winchester?” Glynda’s glare could cut ice, as she continued, “and, regardless, drawing your weapon on another student is against the rules. Count yourself lucky that I’ll chalk this one up to tensions running high, and _only_ give you detention.”

Cardin dropped back into his seat, muttering something beneath his breath, as Glynda turned to the rest of Team CRDL, “Planning aside, your individual techniques were passable, but despite clearly recognising the greatest threat, you continued to fight individual opponents. And, as Miss Daimon’s elimination showed, your spatial awareness could use work. As for AKDA…” she trailed off, eyes lingering on Ahri, now seemingly asleep, and Eve, disinterestedly observing her nails. “Meet me after class. I need a private word with you three.”

Ah. that didn’t sound good. In fact, that sounded the opposite of good. Highly the opposite of good. Very not good.

Still, Glynda continued, “While I’m going over RWBY and JNPR’s strategy, your task is to evaluate them- you’ll be handing in your assessment of their strategy at the end of this lesson, and we’ll be going over it next lesson.”

They did the task in relative silence, Cardin stewing in his seat and Ahri still to tired to realise who’s shoulder she was slumped against, even as Evelynn’s lasher coiled around her, stopping her from falling.

JNPRRWBY walked back in, now all in the standard Beacon Academy uniforms. It was hard to hear what was said from this side of the room, but they were soon set on the same task, although with much more talking- from Ruby and Jaune’s huddled heads, they seemed to be comparing notes.

The lesson was over much too soon, and the other teams filtered out with Cardin sending a smug smirk back as they approached the teacher’s desk and Ruby, for some reason, mouthing ‘Sorry’ in Evelynn’s direction, which seemed to amuse the girl all but carrying their still-drowsy leader.

Glynda shuffled the handed in work to the side of her desk, on top of the sheets she’d been taking notes on earlier. Despite her omnipresent tablet, she’d always preferred to take notes on paper, as long as Kai’sa had known her- something about how much faster it was to write than type or dictate. She looked up at the three of them and gave a small smile. “You needn’t be so nervous girls. I simply have other business I needed to speak to you about and felt that avoiding further bruising Mister Winchester’s ego would kill two Nevermores with one bullet so to speak. Now, first and foremost- Miss Snow, are you certain you are alright?” her eyes softened with concern, “You are showing extreme effects for simple overuse of your aura…”

“Yeah, it’s not the first time,” Ahri laughed breezily, “I used to that trick all the time as a ki- kid! Always knocks me out, I’ll be fine in like, another minute or two!” she grabbed her scroll out of her pocket, opening it to the battle app, showing a nearly half full bar next to her name. “Burning the last bit like that actually speeds up my recovery, ‘cause not even _my_ semblance can keep going at that point so its like, way less drain than I’m used to.”

“Ok, I’ll trust your judgement. If you’re still feeling woozy later today be sure to get checked by the school nurse, ok?”

“Oh right, there’s a scho- yeah, yeah I will.”

Glynda sighed lightly, “Ok. Onto your performance in the training exercise. Ahri- allowing Mister Winchester to take charge showed a great deal of maturity. Although, I’d hope in a real scenario you’d challenge any… obvious flaws you found in a command?”

“’Course.” Ahri scowled, “He wouldn’t have listened anyway, he made that _very_ clear,”

“What do you mean?” Glynda asked,

Ahri jumped, startling as though surprised she’d been heard, “Oh! He just… made it _very_ clear before the match he didn’t think much of us. That’s all.”

“He’s a racist prick.” Evelynn drawled, “And, given that he thinks Kai’sa got in because of _you_ , he’s also blind.”

“Ah.” Glynda frowned, “I’m sorry to say I can’t do anything unless I directly witness an incident. And even then, my hands are more tied than I’d like to admit.”

“I expected as much,” Ahri said with a frown, batting at Eve with her tail, “Anyway, what else did we need to talk about Professor?”

Glynda hesitated a moment before turning to Evelynn with a sigh, “Miss Daimon. You’re an exceptional fighter- that manoeuvre you pulled to send Miss Xiao-Long out of the arena was masterfully done-”

“But you aren’t happy about why I had to do it, right?” Eve sarcastically remarked, leaning on the desk, “Way too viscous on Little Red for a training exercise?”

“That’s an understatement.” Glynda scowled, “You nearly tore off Miss Rose’s arm, _through_ her aura.”

“It won’t happen again, I assure you. Little Red caught me off guard and…” Eve glanced to the side, coughing slightly, “I… panicked. Forgot she wasn’t a Grimm for a moment.”

“It better not happen again. This is your only warning.”

“Understood, luv,”

Evelynn gave a mocking salute as her aunt turned to face Kai’sa, saying, “And Kai’sa, you were slightly slow to notice when Miss Snow was facing Miss Belladonna. Other than that…” She stared into Kai’sa’s eyes, “If you’d pulled that final manoeuvrer in a real fight, you would be dead.”

Ah. Her aunt wasn’t happy with her dive into the fight. “And I’d take them with me.”

“...Of course you'd say that." Glynda sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head, “You’re as bad as your father. Onto the reason I needed to speak with you three- I’m sure you’ve noticed Miss Tethi isn’t present?”

“Uh, yeah, she said something about remedial classes?” Ahri replied, tilting her head slightly.

“Correct. due to the… unique way she was trained, she had very little tutoring in Aura Usage. So, Headmaster Ozpin has seen fit to replace several of her combat classes with remedial classes. Which, for you, leads to you three being down a teammate for several of these lessons.” Glynda reached to one of the many neatly organised piles of paper on her desk, “So, to prevent your learning being effected, I have decided to allow you to add extra classes when, and if, you feel they are needed. Here is a schedule of when I’m available to provide extra combat instruction to the four of you, as a team.”

Ahri accepted the offered papers, already reaching for their Teams schedule from her bag, “Thanks Professor! We’ll definitely consider this, as a team. Is there anything else you needed?”

“No that is all.” Glynda smiled, leaning back in her chair, “I’m guessing you’ll be headed down to Vale now?”

“Yeah! Just need to grab Kali, then we’ll be off grounds.” Ahri grinned, as they turned and headed to the door, “See you next lesson professor!”

After AKD left, Glynda sipped her tea and contemplated her notes from the fight. Evelynn continued to show a disturbing level of savagery in her fighting style, but at least her apology had seemed sincere. And Ahri seemed determined to disprove every doubtful notion that had so much as crossed her mind to choose to place her as the leader. Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose too- in fact, those two seemed to work well together. Jaune’s keen mind for strategy and analysis would still suit him better to a non-combatant role in her opinion, but he played well off of Ruby’s innovative schemes, and kept her wilder ideas in check. And Ruby was most definitely Summer’s daughter, and just as definitely would be an endless source of grey hairs this for the next few years.

Still, she couldn’t help but smile. Remnant’s future already looked promising.


	8. The City Of Vale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one is late! Week went way too fast, my sleep schedules a little fucked rn. Also, Cinder!! Kiddy Cinder!! For one thing, she's so cute as a kid, for another, I'm probably gonna be writing an AU or something for her soon, if nothing else than because her song is absolutely the 'One Thing' equivalent of this season, and is firmly stuck in my head.

“Oh my… Kai’sa, what do you think about this?” Eve asked, smirking as she showed off a wide-brimmed black hat, holding it out for Kai’sa to try on.

Placing it gently on her head and looking at herself in the store mirror, Kai’sa smirked and added it the ‘buy’ pile, “That you’re a _terrible_ enabler for my shopping habits,”

They’d been shopping for a while- their first purchases being the four sets of privacy curtains, buried at the bottom of the first of the many bags in Akali’s arms- each with the Beacon Academy symbol emblazoned on them, and purchased cheap in a fresher’s week sale- apparently a lot of first years ended up buying them?

Ahri smirked, glancing at Akali, who was already stacked with bags full of clothes, dust, ammo, and other random things, “And you need _so_ much help there, Kaisy.”

“Why am I carrying everything, is the real question?” Akali said, with a pout,

“Because, love,” Eve smirked, picking up their choices from this store and sauntering over to the counter of the small charity store they’d wound up in, “You lost that silly game you had us play- it’s almost impressive! You could make the rules whatever you wanted, and you still lost!”

Akali mock-glared around the pile of bags, “I have _honour,_ thank you very much. I’m not going to take advantage of being the only one here who knows the sacred art of Gun, Shield, Sword!”

Kai’sa smiled lightly as she swiped her card over the store attendant’s machine. “I still say you went easy on us- why on Remnant would a Gun break a Sword?”

“I don’t know, but why on Remnant would I volunteer for _this?”_

“Because you’re our friend and _don’t_ have noodles where your arms should be?” Ahri suggested airily, giggling slightly.

They continued their path through Vale, Ahri running ahead to excitedly look in each store window before doubling back to suggest where they go next, Akali making quips about the ever-growing number of shopping bags in her arms, Eve occasionally vanishing and re-joining the group with a smug smirk and a new prank to brag about, from swapping the salt and sugar at the cafe with a ‘No Faunus’ sign they’d hurried past to tripping the Businessman in a stuffy suit who’d bumped into Akali without apologising- which always reluctantly drew guilty laughs from Kai’sa, and much less reluctant and guilty lectures about responsible use of their abilities.

Still, as the afternoon drew on some of the uneasy atmosphere of the day before returned. As her aura recovered fully, Ahri stopped running quite so far ahead and awkwardly tried to subtly avoid Eve- ‘tried’ being the operative word- as she glared at the crowds, gently rubbing her temples when she thought the others couldn’t see. Akali’s eyes started darting at the growing shadows of the surrounding alleyways, scanning the slightly less crowded streets for threats. Eve pretended she didn’t notice quite effectively, but Kai’sa couldn’t stop herself from shuffling anxiously. Whether in response to Akali’s cautiousness, or her own hard-won instincts warning what hid in the darkness, she couldn’t say.

“Oh hey! It’s getting late, so let’s make this our last stop, but look!” Ahri grinned, pointing to a building emanating neon light slightly ahead of them, “An arcade! C’mon, we gotta try it out!”

Without giving them chance to hesitate, Ahri grabbed Kai’sa and Eve’s arms and dragged them towards the brightly lit building’s open front. Machines were littered around inside, all blaring loud music from brightly lit screens or cases and advertising cheap prizes for large numbers of tickets. Ahri slowed to a stop at the entrance, sheepishly turning back to the two of them, “I… have no idea what you do in an arcade. Other than- games?”

Akali, having gently placed the shopping bags next to a brightly lit machine with two sets of four arrows by the entrance and pulled out her wallet to rummage for change, glanced up. “Start here- I want to kick your asses before we get to the fun stuff.”

So, they did. Evelynn went first, losing handily to Akali and sulkily declaring winner stays on. Ahri did considerably better, but couldn’t grasp that she was meant to just jump on the arrows corresponding the ones on the screen, not match the vague actions of the brightly coloured characters. Akali smirked as Kai’sa swapped places, expecting another easy win- the Prof’s niece was as militant as her aunt about her footwork, surely muscle memory would trip her up? These things were so far off what a proper stance would be...

Or not.

She stared, shocked, between Kai’sa’s sheepish face and the screen, loudly declaring ‘Perfect Score!’ in neon letters.

“It wasn’t really that, um, difficult? The arrows are positioned oddly for proper footwork but, well, I just… pretended it was a drill on uneven terrain?”

“Yeah, same,” Akali said, shock morphing into a grin before turning back to her own screen- also reading ‘Perfect Score’- and going into the difficulty menu as she prepared to put in more Lien, “C’mon, lets see how far we can break this thing, Cannons,”

Kai’sa grinned back, shoulders relaxing as she rolled her neck and cracked her knuckles. “Gladly.”

As they saw how high they could get the difficulty before one of them slipped up, Eve grabbed Ahri’s arm and dragged her to a big cabinet with motorbikes emblazoned on the side and two seats hidden within. She all but lay across one, gesturing for Ahri to sit on the other as she scrounged around her purse for small change.

“So, tensions were running high in the forest, and we never really got to a chance to finish our conversation, did we luv?”

Ahri shuffled slightly, “No, we didn’t. I’m sorry for staring I guess.”

“Glaring, but I won’t split hairs,” Evelynn rolled her eyes as the game started up and gave them instructions on the screen, “Honestly, I’d just drop it but how you were acting earlier reminded me- your semblance, that’s what you meant when you called me a ‘walking migraine’?”

Ahri froze slightly, her tail lashing around her ankle as the game counted them in, “Yeah, pretty much. Hence, ‘what the hell is your semblance’”

“Ah, I see.” Eve set of at a speed, instantly overtaking Ahri and the AI’s in the game, “You can sense everyone’s Semblance- so, when _yours_ was down suddenly _mine_ was behaving?”

“Pretty much, yeah,”

“Sorry, I can’t do much there luv. Unless there is?”

“Not really, I just have to get used to you… I hope,” Ahri smiled and giggled slightly, “Maybe let me win this game?”

Evelynn just laughed, and successfully lapped Ahri, “Sorry, not a chance,”

“No fair! Do you actually ride one of these or something?” Ahri mock-pouted,

“Or something. I have a few cars, but I totalled most of them.” Eve smirked as Ahri’s jaw dropped, “’Rich kid problems’, I suppose?”

“Um, _yes_ , I have owned precisely _zero_ cars,” Ahri replied, sending her virtual bike off a cliff for the third time.

“Sounds like a you problem,” Eve teased, “Want driving lessons? The tragic fates of Hate Spike, Allure and Last Caress aren’t indicative of my ability I assure you, and Whiplash is still _firmly_ in good condition in Beacon’s garages. And it might help with the ‘getting used to me’ thing,”

“Um… sure! I’ll have to look over our schedules for a good time, but that sounds fun! And y’know, I should probably be able to drive, as our leader- just in case we end up stranded somewhere or whatever,”

Eve smirked, finishing her laps in the game and leaning back so she could see the Dance game, still occupied by Akali and Kai’sa, who’d gathered a sizable crowd watching the two Huntresses as they moved progressively faster- including the owner, who, at the goading of the crowd entered a password into the machine, letting them use ‘Huntress only’ difficulties. Because their purchases were left mostly unattended in a large crowd. Which was absolutely the only reason. No warm happy feelings blossomed in her chest seeing her new teammates, who she definitely didn’t already consider friends, jokingly trying to trip each other up as they flawlessly went into the difficulties considered beyond human ability- shoulder bumping, waving arms in front of the screen, at one amusing point Akali went so far as to toss a Kunai in Kai’sa’s direction, which was flawlessly caught and returned with a lecture about proper weapon handling without missing a single step, to cheers from the crowd.

Beacon had been a ridiculously impulsive idea, but already she couldn’t bring herself to say it had been a bad one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I named all of Evelynn's cars after her abilities. Honestly, that scene was planned to be the Jaundice equivalent but the more I thought about it the less it made sense to put there and it just kind off??? Fit naturally??? As I was writing??? Like, I had planned for more detail of their arcade antics, but then I realised I had the two characters I needed for that scene free and ready to do that scene, and plenty of reason for Eve to want to have the conversation right then and there, the main one being slight confusion as to what Ahri was up too.


End file.
